Microsoft offers free Exchange Labs e-mail to Live@edu customers

In an effort to further differentiate itself against Google's educational offerings, Microsoft announced today that it would be offering hosted Exchange Labs services at no cost to its Live@edu customers. Previously, customers were provided with school-branded Windows Live Hotmail accounts; with Exchange Labs, customers can now take advantage of the full Exchange experience, including IMAP access, larger mailboxes, and Active Directory integration. Exchange Labs accounts will also be ad-free for all, in contrast to Hotmail, which only removes ads for student accounts.

According to Microsoft (PDF), "Hotmail gives students a fun, personalized experience that integrates natively with other Windows Live services. As students change their communication preferences away from e-mail, and toward social networking, this option may help you stay up with student communication preferences. Exchange Labs gives students a more professional e-mail experience, similar to what they may use in the workplace. It also provides enterprise-class management tools, like archiving and distribution lists, as well as GAL and calendar integration for users on Exchange hosted on-premise."

Live@edu Hotmail accounts will continue to make do with 5GB mailboxes and the ability to send 10MB attachments. The new Exchange Labs accounts, however, come with twice the fun—10GB mailboxes and a 20MB attachment size limit. Along with Windows Mobile and Nokia cell phones, iPhones get some loving as well; Exchange Labs accounts will use ActiveSync to provide "push" e-mail via Exchange ActiveSync. The addition of Exchange Management Shell and Web Services as deployment tools for Exchange Labs accounts should also help ease the burden on IT administrators who need to create accounts for the incoming freshman class en masse.

There is a catch, though: only students and alumni are eligible for the new Exchange Labs accounts. Hotmail accounts are still available for faculty, staff, and parents, and Live@edu customers who use Exchange on-site can add faculty and staff information to student directories, but this move shows that the focus of Microsoft's efforts in education IT are focused squarely on adoption by the student body of its Live@edu services.